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Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Romney's Deification of the State

Ironically, in attempting to bracket his Mormon religion off from his
political life, Romney has ended up embracing the type of civic
nationalism so prevalent in the Mormon church.

For example in a speech
on 6 December, 2007, Romney championed what he called “America’s political
religion” and vowed that as president he would acknowledge no obligation
higher than the constitution and the laws of the United States. As he
put it

I will put no doctrine of any church above the plain
duties of the office and the sovereign authority of the law. As a young
man, Lincoln described what he called America’s ‘political religion’ –
the commitment to defend the rule of law and the Constitution. When I
place my hand on the Bible and take the oath of office, that oath
becomes my highest promise to God.

What Romney failed to realize is that if there is no set of
obligations higher than the laws governing a particular country, then
the state essentially becomes divine. Again, to suggest or imply that a
President has no obligation higher even than his oath of office is to
offer up to the state a loyalty that properly belong only to God’s
kingdom.

Romney has also suggested that religious differences are trivial as
long as people are good patriots, as if a love for America trumps all
other spiritual priorities. In his 2007 ‘Faith in America’ speech he
remarked that “every faith I have encountered draws its adherents closer
to God” and he quoted Sam Adams who urged said “he would hear a prayer
from anyone of piety and good character, as long as they were a
patriot.” Moreover, he pointed to the American War for Independence as
an example of how religious differences fade into insignificance next to
our commitment to our country.

This is a frightening claim since it elevates our loyalty to the
state above all other loyalties, including those commitments which have
traditionally acted as a hedge against an all-powerful state. To suggest
or imply that loyalty to America trumps and renders insignificant all
other spiritual loyalties is to predicate to a nation qualities that
properly only belong to God’s kingdom.

Similarly, during the GOP presidential debate in Florida, Romney said
that the Declaration of Independence is a theological document
establishing a covenant “between God and man.” For someone who has gone
out of his way to bracket religious truth-claims off from public life,
it is interesting to see him applying theological categories to the
state. However, this ceases to be so surprising when we view it through
the grid of Romney’s civic nationalism, since it is the state that
becomes the true object of religious devotion. In order to elevate the
state to this level Romney must upgrade America’s charter documents to a
spiritual status, investing them with theological significance.

If Romney were consistent with predicating quasi-divine honours to
the nation state, he would have to urge us to pray to the state.
Thankfully, he has not gone that far, although he has suggested that
prayers derive their value, not by virtue of the object to which that
prayer is directed, but by virtue of whether or not the supplicant has a
love for America. Indeed, he believes that the prayers of all faith
traditions are valuable provided they come from true patriots.

Don’t get me wrong. Romney is a good patriot and that is refreshing
after four years of a President who, as Dinesh D’Souza has convincingly
shown, does not even love America. But Romney’s love for America goes
far beyond the bounds of patriotism. His book No Apology: The Case for American Greatness
describes the United States in Messianic terms, saying that she is not
only “the greatest nation on earth” but also “the hope of the world.”
Once again, the only way it is possible to make America the hope of the
world is if we have given the nation a role and responsibility that
properly only belongs to the kingdom of God.